JOHANNESBURG - The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) recorded an increase in rape cases involving police officers, with 116 cases registered during the 2025/26 financial year.
That is up from 95 cases recorded the previous year, raising concerns about allegations of serious crimes involving members of the police service.
Of the 116 rape cases registered, 44 allegedly involved off-duty police officers, while 72 involved officers who were on duty.
The increase comes as South Africa continues to grapple with high levels of gender-based violence and femicide.
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Forensic investigator Chad Thomas says there can be no justification for police officers implicated in gender-based violence and femicide.
“There’s absolutely no excuse for any police officer involved in any form of GBVF.”
Thomas says recent cases have included police officers accused of killing their partners, becoming involved in violent disputes and, increasingly, facing allegations of rape.
He says those responsible must be identified and removed from the police service.
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“There are going to be bad apples. There are going to be rapists among them. There are going to be hardened criminals among them. We have to root them out,” he says.
But Thomas stresses that gender-based violence is not limited to the police service.
“GBVF doesn’t stop within the police. It’s a nationwide issue,” he says, describing it as one of South Africa’s most underreported crimes.
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He points to reports of intimate partners being held hostage between 2021 and 2025 as an indication of the scale of the problem.
The challenge, he says, is compounded by underreporting and a lack of confidence that victims will receive justice.
That concern becomes even more serious when the alleged perpetrator is a police officer.
“If there’s a fear that the police aren’t going to do their job when it comes to a rapist that is from the community, now imagine trying to report a rapist that’s from the very police station where you’re trying to report it,” Thomas says.